A/N: yay. Here it is. Hopefully, people still remember what happened last …

Funkydevil206, spikegothicchick, fee-kh, Serrafina, Wentzie72, KelleyTheSelfToastablePopTart, and kim thanks for the reviews and the patience. :D

Disclaimer: not mine.

Rating: PG-13. Swearing, angst, violence. You have been warned …

Pairings: B/S eventually. W/T, X/A.

Distribution: Yeah, sure, take it. Tell me first, though.

Reviews: Yay! Reviews are happy. :D

Previously: On a night out with their friends at the Bronze, Buffy and Spike get knocked unconscious in the back alley …

Buffy woke groggily, her head feeling as if there were a vice clamped on it. Where am I? she wondered. She tried to shift her weight, but found that her hands and feet were tied. Last she remembered, she was …

Her eyes widened as the events of before came back to her. They had been at the Bronze … and she … and Spike!

Buffy sudden snapped to attention and looked around her.

They were in a small dusty room with no furniture. Spike lay next to her, still unconscious.

"Spike? Spike!" she hissed his name, trying to wake him. She wiggled over to sit next to him, trying to shake his shoulder.

"Spike, wake up!" Buffy jounced him again, and was rewarded with a pained groan as he came to.

"Pet, what're you doin'?" he asked groggily.

"Spike, please, get up …" The sound of tears in her voice told him more than anything that something was out of place. Buffy rarely ever cried.

"'Ell, luv, what happened? What are we dong 'ere?" Spike whispered, cracking his eyes open.

"Dunno," Buffy murmured back. "Last I remember, I was knocked out. Then … this."

Spike looked around. It was familiar. It was … "Bugger. We're in the old mansion on Crawford Street, luv," he said.

Buffy frowned. "How do you --"

Remember that summer when we were obsessed with ghost stories an' we decided to do a little explorin'?" Spike cut in.

"Oh." Her eyes widened with recognition.

Before either could further analyze their situation, they heard a sound at the door and scrambled to shift and face it.

The man who stepped into the room was the last person they expected to see.

"I-it can't be you," Buffy stammered. "You're dead."

He grinned, an insane grin. "What? No 'welcome home' for Daddy?"

"Hank!" Spike stared at the apparition with wide eyes. "What d'you think you're doing? Let us outta these ropes, man!"

"Sorry, William," he sneered at the name, mock apologizing, "No can do. I've waited so long to get revenge for what she did to me."

"You're the one who abused her!" Spike yelled. "All she did was have the good sense to break free of ya!"

"Watch your mouth, boy," Hank snarled. "That bitch ruined my life by sending me to jail."

Buffy was still staring at him with disbelief. "But we held the funeral … and you were in the casket …"

Hank turned to her, his voice toned down, but still mocking and evil. "Did you ever check yourself, daughter dear?" he made the endearment sound like a curse.

"Wha-what?"

"You never saw the body in the casket," Hank answered for her. "You just trusted the Sunnydale police and morgue to get it right."

Both captives still looked uncomprehending. Hank sighed dramatically and stepped closer. Buffy instinctively flinched while Spike glowered up at him. The older man smiled, maliciously amused.

"You see, I wasn't the one driving that night. Some bum I picked up was the less drunk of the two of us, so he took the wheel. The idiot still managed to plow off the high way, though," Hank's face twisted on anger, but he continued, "I suppose my identification was lost somewhere in that car, and – the police being the lazy jackasses they are – assumed that was me." He paused, then he resumed his sinister expression once more, "I supposed that turned out better for my plan in the end, though."

"Plan?" Spike asked. Behind his back, he wiggled his fingers, continuing to pick at the knots around his hands. If he could keep Hank talking … monologue-ing must've been a requirement for all wanna-be villains.

Hank gestured around him. "This! My revenge! I promised I'd make you pay for what you did, dear," he addressed Buffy, who flinched away again.

"What are you going to do, murder us?" Spike questioned incredulously.

"No," Hank said, then added, "not before I make you suffer as much as I have."

He suddenly strode over to the two and kicked Buffy, who had curled into a ball behind Spike, unable to handle the turn of events. She cried out as he began to drag her up.

"Let her go, you bloody insane lunatic!" Spike yelled, knocking Hank's legs out from under him with his own tied feet. The blonde took the opportunity, while his captor was dazed, to free his legs (having already untied to bonds on his hands) and try to make a break for the door while holding on to Buffy.

He stopped when he heard the metallic click of a gun.

"Move, and I'll blow both of your brains out," Hank said menacingly, getting to his feet and aiming the gun at the blondes.

Then several things happened at once.

The door burst open, and policemen – including Angel – jumped in, leveling guns at Hank and yelling, "freeze, police!"

Buffy leaped in front of Spike (as best as she could with her feet still tied), with a slow-motion yell of 'nnnnooooo!' just as Hank's gun went off.

Spike watched as Buffy collapsed on the floor, bleeding. Without another thought for his own safety, he cried a war cry and attacked Hank just as the man's gun went off a second time.

Willow, who had arrived right behind Angel, screamed piercingly at the mayhem before her.

And several policemen's shots caught Hank in the back before he could do any further damage. His body jerked as each bullet entered him, and he went down.

Things quieted, and the finality of the situation hit all who were present.

It was finally over.

Any techinical mistakes made cam be blamed on my ignorance (and maybe, in part,the ignorance of the Sunnydale workforce). Feel free to point them out. :)

This isn't the end (well, not the final end)...

le faye